CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (post 1)

...the birth of Jesus a long, long time ago. We have been excitedly awaiting Jesus' birthday for 364 days. It was so much fun last year so we figured it would be even more fun this year. It has been! All month we have been doing the Advent calendar. Kate tried every time to put the candy cane in the slot for the 25th. Well, it was finally time for the candy cane to move to it's final spot for this year, and Kate couldn't have been happier. To be honest, she would have been so happy with just one little present. She is so sweet and thankful. However, there was more than one, simple present....a WHOLE lot more.

The first Christmas gathering was with the Douglas' family. Kate loves the guys (Kason & Krece), and as you can see from the pictures below they all had a good Christmas.




a new hat from Aunt Kaci!




golf clubs! Daddy is excited too!








A new tricycle!!!! She was so excited!






Granny made Kate her very own Masked Rider costume

Disney Day 5

...the last dat at Disney World. We were all pretty tired so we just spent a little time at the Magic Kingdom. As the pregnant lady, I was probably moving the slowest. It was cold and rainy, but still magical. We only stayed for a couple of hours, but hated not to go since it was our last day. Here are some pictures of our final day.

Vacation Day 3

...a Tinker Bell costume! Kate looovvveees Tinker Bell, so we couldn't resist getting her a costume while at Disney World. Whenever she was in the room, or Kate's Office as she called it, she wanted to wear her costume for at least one dance a day. We just took it easy for the morning since we were up late the night before at Mickey's Christmas party. So, Kate ran around for a while in her Tinker Bell outfit that morning and I occasionally looked up from my final to look off the balcony at the golf course that was too cold to play.



After Kate's nap we spent the day at Epcot. Epcot is not exactly toddler friendly, but there were a few kid friendly things that day. Strangely enough, Kate loved the carved hedges that looked like Goofy and Pluto.





Even more than the carved hedges, Kate loved getting to meet the characters while at Epcot. The lines to meet characters at the Magic Kingdom were too long to wait in, but at Epcot, you could take your picture with all of them in one place and only had to wait about 10 minutes. It was great, and Kate didn't even freak out. Don't get me wrong, she didn't want the characters to hold her but she did get close enough to them to inform us after meeting them all that, "Minnie has a fake nose." After getting to meet Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and her favorite Goofy, that was the thing she most remembered--Minnie has a fake nose. She was so funny at Disney World, and I am so glad we were able to take her. We finished the day off eating some great fish and chips at Downtown Disney before calling day 3 a night.

Vacation Day 4

...Animal Kingdom and THE BEACH!



If you get the chance to spend a couple of days at Disney World, let us recommend going to Animal Kingdom! It was part theme park, part zoo, and a lot of fun. The safari ride was our favorite and Kate loved getting to see the animals up close. It was great to see all of the animals together and not in separate enclosures. The hippos, giraffes, elephants, gazelles, and more were all together. The ride reminded me a lot of the old Arbuckle Wilderness, but Disneyed. There were some fun looking rides, and I took the time to wait for Expedition Everest the one roller coaster I wanted to ride on the trip. It was well-worth the 40 minute wait. It had been a long few days for Kate, so by about 2 o'clock she was wiped out and crashed in her stroller.






This is what happens when you spend too much time watching the family of monkeys!



And this is what happens when you wake up a toddler when moving her from her stroller to the car seat.



We took the opportunity of a calm afternoon to head to Daytona Beach so Kate could see the ocean...well, see the ocean again. One of the best parts of Daytona is the ability to drive on the sand. As we were driving down the beach Kate was getting more and more excited. When we got out of the car she just took off running. She ran up and down the beach and through the water the entire time we were there. And notice from the pictures, all of us were in jackets and Kate was in short sleeves. The water was cold, but Kate could have cared less. She is ready to go back to the beach. How do I know? She asks to go back all the time. She even made a song that she sings randomly--"Let's go beach, let's go beach, let's go beach, hey, hey, hey."

Vacation Day 2

...Kate waking up ready to go to Mickey's Castle! The second day was probably my favorite. We were refreshed and ready to go. We spent the entire day at the Magic Kingdom (with the exception of the 3 hours we went back to the resort for Kate to have a nap).

We arrived at the park just in time for a parade. I have to say the parades were Kate's favorite part, and as a result, out favorite part because we got to watch her. It was also fun to watch my parents. I knew my mom would love it, but I wasn't sure how my dad would handle Disney World. After all, there's no John Wayne or WWII history sections. However, it was almost as much fun to watch them watch Kate as it was to watch Kate. They were definitely kids again.






Kate was pretty excited to see the "Foofy!"



Still holding her button!




Kate and my dad on the It's a Small World ride. Let's take a moment and laugh a little to ourselves about how I'm sure my dad would have rather pulled all of his teeth than ride this ride, but because a little girl said, "Come on Papa," he got on. She has him so tightly wrapped it's not even funny, but I love it. Throughout the week the 2 of them were pretty funny. He likes to pick on people, but Kate doesn't really like to be picked on all the time. At one point she would let him have "his turn" picking on her, while another time she said, "Stop talking to me Papa." The girl has some pretty strong boundaries.



Granny got Kate a new horse named Maximus. He is from the movie Tangled. If you've seen the movie you would know how much the horse reminds us of our dog Stanley. Once Max (sometimes she calls him Amos) joined the family he went EVERYWHERE with us. I even had to carry him on the plane on the way home.






If you haven't been to Disney World at Christmas, then it's time you go. In fact, I'm not sure I want to go again unless it's Christmas. The park looks pretty during the day, but at night it's amazing. The castle is truly amazing and changes colors too. On the second night Michael and I had purchased tickets for all of us to attend Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. If you had tickets you could stay at the park until midnight (of course we didn't stay that long but you had to have tickets to participate in the festivities). Michael and Kate were able to see a great stage show while my parents and I held our place along the parade route. It was truly magical.